Waiting for God

A few weeks ago Mrs. Mary Mohler spoke about "waiting" at the Pendergraph's Women Fellowship in September. It was a wonderful and thought provoking speech which I really enjoyed. Since that time God has shown me two examples of the benefits of waiting: a negative example and a positive example.

For the first example, I will give a bit of background. I LOVE it when my husband opens my car door for me. However in the past, my husband generally did not open my car door except on special occasions. The "rule" is: when we go out on a date then my husband opens the car door for me. So needless to say, whenever my husband opens my car door it is something I treasure! Lately, Ryan has been trying to open my car door for me more often. We might be running errands or traveling, etc. and he will jump out of the car and say "I'll get your door", then proceed to run around the car and open the door for me. This is a fairly new occurrence and so we're still working out the kinks.

On one such day, we arrived at our destination and Ry jumped out and said "I'll get your door". But because I wasn't listening carefully to what he had said; I didn't hear him and so opened my own door and got out. I realized my mistake as soon as Ry came around the back of the car and told me that he had intended to get my door (but now I had already gotten out so his efforts were wasted). I was so disappointed! If I had listened carefully to what he had said and just waited for him I would have been so blessed by his gift of opening my door! As soon as it happened I told him what a poignant example that was to me of how often I don't listen carefully for God's leading or wait for Him to work out a situation and as such I plow through my days making a mess of things and missing the blessings that come from waiting for God to act!

The other example is a little sweeter... Yesterday was our 15th anniversary. Ryan had classes all day and I was out running errands. I was right next to a Starbucks and was tempted to stop and get a Double Chocolate Chip Frappaccino (my very favorite drink), but didn't because I had to get to work unpacking boxes at our apartment. I knew what I had to get done and so I figured that I could wait until a more opportune time to get myself a treat. When I got home, I started working on the boxes and stayed busy until Ryan got home from school. When he walked in he had in his hand a Starbucks Grande Double Chocolate Chip Frappaccino which he had picked up for me for our anniversary! The best thing about this is that Ryan strongly dislikes stopping at stores or shopping, so it was a really unexpected and a real sacrifice on his part. For my part, if I had not waited earlier and had gotten myself a DCC Frap, then it would have diminished the blessing of the gift that my husband got me later that evening, not just for me but also for my husband. He would have been disappointed and felt like his gift was not as special.

Both of these instances caused my mind to go back to waiting on God. God never lets you down in the end. He always calls us to wait because He is working out whatever is the best thing for us in our lives and often the lessons which will so bless us and cause us to be like Christ, are the ones that take the most time to develop in our hearts. Praise God for Mrs. Mohler's speech as well as the examples that God showed me in my life.